Various EC-style short
strips from various students at the Joe Kubert School, including sons Adam and
Andy Kubert. The best strip is a Sgt Rock-style two-pager by the master
himself.

5.
The Vesha Valentine Story (SLG, 2011)
**

Writer/Artist: Des
Taylor

This homage to vintage
Hollywood and cheesecake glamma has some lovely artwork, but it’s ruined by the
clichéd, by-the-books storyline and HORRENDOUS editing: spelling mistakes,
grammatical errors, constant switching from past to present tense. It’s shoddy,
amateurish work that ruined my enjoyment of the book. SLG should be ashamed of
their efforts on this one.

6.
Motor City Comics #2 (Rip Off Press,
1970) ***

Writer/Artist: Robert
Crumb

The main story is a
relatively dramatic, longer tale about feminist activist Lenore Goldberg being
targeted by the government as a threat to its authority. The comic’s rounded
out with several shorter strips , including the highly offensive The Simp And
The Gimp. Same old, same old from Crumb.

7.
Grendel Ashcan #1 (Dark Horse, 1993)
***

8.
Batman/Grendel Ashcan #1 (DC/Comico,
1993) **

9.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Ashcan
(Malibu, 1993) **½

I grabbed what I thought
was a Grendel Ashcan comic from a
dollar bin at OzComicCon in Melbourne a few years back. I opened it up recently
to find it contained two other ashcan comics, plus a bunch of trading cards and
other bits’n’pieces that typified the early 90s. Tons of embossed cards and
artwork by guys who crashed and burned during that period. A time capsule.

10.
Angel Catbird Vol. 1 (Dark Horse, 2016)
**½

11.
Angel Catbird Vol. 2: To Castle Catula
(Dark Horse, 2017) **

Writer: Margaret
Atwood/Artist: Johnnie Christmas

I PLANNED to write big
reviews of these two graphic novels on my blog and send the link to Dark Horse
(and plug it on Twitter), but I won’t now. Having read them I can honestly say
they’re DRIVEL. Beautifully drawn drivel. Quirky drivel (considering the author
is a 70+ noted author). But drivel all the same. Half-cat/half-human heroes.
Rat people. Owl people. Cat-bat vampires. I’m flabbergasted this faux-Silver
Age drivel got green-lighted by Dark Horse. Volume two, in particular, is
interminable with a meandering storyline, bad plotting, awful cat-related puns
and characters I do not give a SHIT about. It’s dumb. Yes, that’s the perfect
word for Angel Catbird: DUMB.

I was never a fan of the
Hanna-Barbera cartoons (they were so cheaply animated), but their “adventure”
toons seemed to suck the most. Worst of them all was The Herculoids, a story about a bunch of xenophobic nutbags who
would kill ANY aliens who landed on their backward planet. Seriously, that was
the plot of EVERY FUCKING EPISODE. Aliens land on planet. Herculoids attack
them and kill them. End of episode. Seriously, this series probably sahped
Steve Bannon and Pauline Hanson’s attitude to immigration as youngsters.

As for other HB toons, I
was vaguely aware of Johnny Quest due
to its reincarnation as a comic published by Comico in the early 80s. In the
late 90s I’d seen a few eps of the post-ironic Space Ghost Coast-To-Coast on Adult Swim and I even possess a Space
Ghost action figure.

But I heard good things
about Future Quest – DC’s reimagining
of the HB adventure line – and it’s pretty damn great. Parker is one of my fave
writers of light-hearted action-adventure, while Shaner, Rude et al really
capture the spirit of the original animated series (only giving them more life
and vigour than they ever had on TV). All in all, I was pretty impressed with
the first six issues.

Sub-Warren horror tales
“with a twist at the end” drawn by the competent Reese (one of Wally Wood’s
many assistants) and written by an eclectic mix of writers. Most of the tales
are average at best, although “The Skin-Eaters” (written by Terry Bisson) in
No. 2 has an unexpected sting in the tail that lifts it above the others.

26.
Soldier X #1 (Marvel, 2002) ***¼

Writer: Darko
Macan/Artist: Igor Kordey

I’ve never been a fan of
Cable from the X-Men, but this random first issue of a new Cable series was
kinda intriguing, as it seemed to be focusing less on the X-Men and Cable as a
superhero and more of Cable as a war-weary soldier. Kordy’s Corben-esque
artwork was a revelation. However, it’s still Cable – and I don’t give a shit
about Cable.

27.
The Red Ten #0 (Comix Tribe, 2013)
***½

Writer: Tyler
James/Artists: various

A nice little Free Comic
Book Day taster for the full series, a homage to Agatha Christie’s thriller
novel And Then There Were None, only
using superheroes this time. Watch the JLA get bumped off in a bloody murder
mystery. Intriguing.

28.
On The Line (Image, 2011) ***

Writer: Rick
Wright/Artist: Rian Hughes

I picked this up at a
Kings (http://www.kingscomics.com/) sale for five bux. It’s a short-lived
newspaper strip that Hughes (one of my fave British artists) illustrated for England’s
The Guardian in 1995-96 and it’s a
fascinating time capsule of the Internet Stone Age. The toon was paid for by
Compuserve and is full of passé jargon (like “electronic mail” and “ten hours
of free surfing the web”) and extolling the virtues of communicating with “22 million
people around the world…while steadfastly ignoring the fact that most of those
people were using it to access porn.

Fascinating – and more
than a little weird – to see The Guardian
running advertorial from a company that raved about a future where people could
read their news online. Like the rag didn’t believe that the net would one day
leave them – and the rest of the newspaper biz – on the precipice of oblivion.

Anyway, a fascinating
curio and Rian’s blocky b&w art is a treat, even though the gags are
woefully lame (in that “we’re-trying-to-be-funny-while-advertising-Compuserve”
way).

As wrestling magazines
go, this is kinda fun – mainly for all the cool tip-ons in each monthly issue.
But the cartoon strips SUCK. There’s a page or two of untitled gag strips that
aren’t even punny, they’re just LAME. And then there’s the ongoing two-page
strip Superfan!, about an obnoxious
brat whose whole world revolves around WWE. Obnoxious, destructive, mean – he’s
the sorta kid you want to see get hit by a car. It’s like someone decided to
produce a WWE-themed Dennis The Menace
strip devoid of any charm, wit and talent. Amazingly successful in that regard,
then.

64.
Bricktop A1 Special (Atomeka, 2004)
***

Writers; Glenn Fabry and
Chris Smith/Artist: Glenn Fabry

This one-shot reprints
an old Fabry strip from 1992. It’s wonderful to see some early Fabry and his
B&W linework is exquisite, but the story is laaaaame. It tries to be weird
and quirky, but it fails on every level. Uninteresting characters, needlessly
bizarre plot, bad pacing and a flat ending that hangs on a naff visual gag.
Blah.

65.-69.
Animosity Vol. 1: The Wake
(AfterShock, 2017) **

- originally published
in Animosity #1-4 (AfterShock, 2016) and
Animosity: The Rise (AfterShock,
2017)

Writer: Marguerite
Bennett/Artist: Rafael De Latorre

OK, the moment I saw
tortoises with cannons strapped to their shell, I realised that this series was
STOOPID. If this tale of animals gaining sentience and seeking revenge on
humans was going to be truly chilling, then they should just be animals. But
seeing pandas waddling around with rifles is just DUMB. Can’t believe I wasted
so much money on this book.

70.-74.
Deadly Class Vol. 5: Carousel (Image,
2017) *****

- originally published
in Deadly Class #22-26 (Image,
2016-17)

Writer; Rick
Remender/Artist: Wes Craig

After the shocking end
to the previous volume, we get a whole new class of newbies trying to learn how
to be assassins Kings Dominion School Of The Deadly Arts. Marcus is dead – and
to be honest I’m not that sad. He was an arsehole. This new group look like way
more fun, with plenty of dark secrets that emerge in shocking fashion at the
end of the volume. I’ve always enjoyed reading Deadly Class but Remender has taken it to new levels in the past
two volumes. Highly fucking recommended.

75.
Aliens: Dead Orbit #1 (Dark Horse,
2017) ***¼

Writer/Artist: James
Stokoe

This is an intriguing
first issue – a space station picks up a signal from a seemingly abandoned
space freighter and sends a team over to investigate it. They find three crew
in cryo-sleep…and something else. As it’s told in flashback, we know that a
nasty alien is going to turn up very soon and its first appearance on the final
splash page is a heart-stopper. Dark Orbit starts slowly, but it appears
business is going to pick up pretty bloody rapidly with the next issue.

Stu’s obsession with
following people (and being followed) on Instagram reaches a manic peak this
issue. While holidaying in South Korea he apparently spent all his time on
Instagram or buying chocolates at convenience stores. Well, that’s the
impression I got from reading this zine. If you’re expecting some in-depth
analysis on what it’s like to visit South Korea – or even a superficial
several-panel list of places of interest for prospective tourists – well,
you’ll be disappointed. If Stu keeps serving this up for the rest of the year,
it’s gonna make for a pretty dull diary comic.

79.
Heroes For Hire #6 (Marvel, 1997)
***¼

Writer: John
Ostrander/Artists: Pascual Ferry and Jaime Mendoza

I had this entire series
on my pull list back when it first came out and enjoyed it at the time.-
although, in hindsight, it was mainly ’cos obscure villain Killer Shrike made a
guest appearance in one issue. Always liked Killer Shrike. Anyway, this isn’t
Ostrander’s finest work and the art is very post-Liefeld. I can see why this
series didn’t last long.

Man, this was like an
updated version of Mr T and the T-Force.
That ISN’T a compliment. A douchebag recast as a noble, Luke Cage-style
superhero. Ugh. This is one for my MMA/wrestling comix curio collection.

86.-89.
30Days Of Night: Eben And Stella (IDW,
2007) ***¼

- originally published
in 30 Days Of Night: Eben And Stella
#1-4 (IDW, 2007)

90.-94.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Like I’m
The Only Squirrel In The World (Marvel, 2017) *****

- originally published
in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
#12-16 (Marvel, 2016-17)

A misfire of an
anthology, mainly featuring short stories by unknown Spanish creators. The only
thing of interest is the ongoing serial “Ransom”, written by a young Kurt
Busiek and illustrated by Dan Brereton. It’s pretty ordinary, though.

128.
The SuperFogeys #1 (Th3rd World
Studios, 2009) DUD

Writer/Artist: Brock
Heasley

Mocking nursing home
residents and dementia sufferers, rape jokes…..hmmmmmmmm, what else was
offensive about this “slice-of-life” comic about old-aged superheroes? How
about the poor spelling and grammar, and the fact that it’s unfunny from start
to finish? Yeah, that’ll do it.